Do you know your voter registration status?

Updated 10:48 pm, Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The deadline to register to vote in the July 31 primary runoff election is July 2.

The deadline to register to vote in the July 31 primary runoff election is July 2.

Photo: File Photo, Associated Press

Do you know your voter registration status?

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Texas already has a low voter registration rate, and many of the state's registered voters are in danger of losing that status.

The Houston Chronicle reported that 1.5 million voters are in “suspended” status, which means they will be dropped from registration rolls on Nov. 30.

Voters are suspended if they failed to respond to letters seeking to confirm their residence or if they did not receive a letter that was sent.

While the state is required to clean the rolls of dead voters and people who have moved, the Chronicle reported that outdated computer programs and inadequate procedures result in the wrong people being suspended and eventually dropped.

If you didn't receive a new registration card in the mail this spring and want to vote, you should check your status. You can find out if you are registered at the Texas secretary of state's website, or Bexar County residents can go to http://www.bexar.org/cfdocs/ElectionsPublic/VRDB/VRSearch01.cfm or call the local elections office at 210-335-8683.

Primary elections routinely have a low voter turnout, but general elections in presidential years typically produce the biggest turnouts of all elections.

Some voters may have been dropped from the rolls without knowing it and through no fault of their own. For example, former Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia told the newspaper that she was placed on suspension in 2003 for failing to respond to a letter that she never received.

The Chronicle report cited U.S. Elections Commission data showing that 21 percent of Texans who have received “purge letters” were valid voters who contacted officials and avoided being dropped.

Notably, the deadline for registering to vote in the July 31 primary election runoffs is July 2. Voters who did not cast a ballot in the Republican or Democratic primary on May 29 are eligible to vote in either party's runoffs.

When the 2012 legislative session convenes in January, Texas lawmakers should examine the state's methods for purging voters from registration rolls and make changes that will help prevent Texans from being removed unfairly.